Since 1989, she has taught at American University in Washington, D.C. Aufderheide has authored several books, including Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (co-authored with Peter Jaszi), Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction, Communication Policy and the Public Interest: The Telecommunications Act of 1996, and The Daily Planet: A Critic on the Capitalist Culture Beat.

She has published many academic journal articles, and has published prolifically as an arts journalist in publications ranging from major daily newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, The Toronto Globe and Mail and the Boston Globe to cultural magazines such as Harper’s, Film Comment and Cineaste to partisan and issue publications such as The Nation, The Progressive and Mother Jones.

[6] She has argued, often in conjunction with Peter Jaszi, that the U.S. copyright doctrine of fair use is more available than many communities of practice currently make of it.

On media, Aufderheide has focused on both spaces and behaviors that foster exchange of public knowledge with the goal of resolving problems.

She serves on the boards of the social-issue documentary company Kartemquin Films[10] and the Independent Television Service, a production entity majority-funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Funding for the Center has been provided by Annie E. Casey, MacArthur, McCormick, Surdna and Rockefeller Foundations, the Haas Family Trusts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.